Warmoth Vs UK body builders

Jetfire

In an idle 5 minutes or pure boredom, I specced up a Swamp ash, hard tailed, clear coated strat body, on Warmoth.  Total price is $230 which is proper money is around £230 including postage. Specced up something similar (I believe) with 1 piece swamp as in the UK and it came in at around £300. The only thing I can think of it that the body may not be a single piece.    

Am I missing something? Obviously, buying British blah blah but potential saving of around £70, you would...

(Of course, there potentially/probably will be customs on top of that but...)

EDIT: yes, I did miss something. 

WezV

Jetfire said:

In an idle 5 minutes or pure boredom, I specced up a Swamp ash, hard tailed, clear coated strat body, on Warmoth.  Total price is $230 which is proper money is around £230 including postage. Specced up something similar (I believe) with 1 piece swamp as in the UK and it came in at around £300. The only thing I can think of it that the body may not be a single piece.    

Am I missing something? Obviously, buying British blah blah but potential saving of around £70, you would...

(Of course, there potentially/probably will be customs on top of that but...)

assume there will be customs.   Price suddenly becomes a lot more comparable, but there will be a lot less profit for the UK builder as he wont be buying wood in the quantities used by Warmoth, or getting the same return on his tool costs



I have nothing against Warmoth, they were the only reasonable option for a long time

Richardrichard

Clear coating adds about $180 at Warmoth so I think you have missed a click somewhere. A basic ash strat body, no finish is $280 with postage as far as I can tell.

Jetfire

Richardrichard said:

Clear coating adds about $180 at Warmoth so I think you have missed a click somewhere. A basic ash strat body, no finish is $280 with postage as far as I can tell.

under the option for finish I have selected clear thou? 

GoldenEraGuitars

I do hard tail 2 piece swamp ash bodies for £380 to your door (U.K. or Ireland). That’s including a grain fill, paint finish or just the clear coat (if that’s what you want). 

I’m not touting for business btw, just giving you a number to work with. 

Richardrichard

Look again

darcym

the Warmoth stuff I've had in the past has been much better value and much more specific detail available (eg: one piece body) 

Doesn't mean they don't need 'finishing' as part of your build, but the quality of the output has been better than anything I've found in the UK. 

don't forget your import fee's but Warmoth is really knocking out good stuff and they have good quality control (I had a neck fail quality control before it shipped, I was informed and the item was re-specc'd with a free ugprade).

Dodge

darcym said:

the Warmoth stuff I've had in the past has been much better value and much more specific detail available (eg: one piece body) 

Doesn't mean they don't need 'finishing' as part of your build, but the quality of the output has been better than anything I've found in the UK. 

don't forget your import fee's but Warmoth is really knocking out good stuff and they have good quality control (I had a neck fail quality control before it shipped, I was informed and the item was re-specc'd with a free ugprade).

I really like Warmoth stuff - I have.  I bought a swamp ash bodied thinline Tele with a Goncalo Alves neck assembled by @Twinfan and I was so enanoured with it, I built a matching Strat, another thinline Tele with a Koa on mahogany body and a koa neck with ebony fretboard.  I also built a dinky jazz bass - walnut body, wenge neck.

I wish they'd dress the frets on their necks - but other than that I can't complain about the quality at all.  What I like is the choice of woods they offer.  I don't know of anyone else who offers such a wide variety.

prowla

I've got a Warmoth neck on a Strat and a Warmoth body on a Jazz; they are both simply excellent and I tend to view Warmoth as the top of the tree. They are also Fender-licensed parts.

I've never looked at a UK retail part and thought "I must have that". (But I'm happy to be convinced otherwise.)

Jetfire

Richardrichard said:

Look again

Ooh, youre SO cryptic! 

So I had a revisit, you select the finish and THEN, you need to specify front and back. 

So, @GoldenEraGuitars cost is actually similar to the Warmoth one. 

victorludorum

@GSPBASSES makes some top notch stuff, and price wise he's very reasonable i think.

Jetfire

victorludorum said:

@GSPBASSES makes some top notch stuff, and price wise he's very reasonable i think.

True indeed! 

Jez6345789

No doubt Warmoth do nice parts.
you would need to check you are comparing eggs with eggs so to speak in terms of number of body pieces. As that will bump the price.

Also swamp ash has risen in price over recent times and also as it’s an imported wood will cost more as it will go through the importer wholsealer route. Where as Warmoth I would imagine are buying directly from the saw mill.

if you are looking for Swamp Ash to be lighter weight I would certainly ask that as a question from whoever you buy from as I have seen A lot more heavier swamp ash around than some of the feather stuff of say 5 years ago when you could get a 2lb strat body out of a single one piece board. 

I would also say in the current climate negotiate a good deal with a Uk supplier. 

Stevepage

I got a lovely Warmoth neck and body last year. One piece swamp ash with a really nice book matched quilt top. I think that came in around £350 but was unfinished because I was oiling the body myself.

Philly_Q

I'm not trying to push you in either direction as regards "Warmoth vs UK builders", but Warmoth do offer an excellent service.

A custom order is relatively expensive, if you want any non-standard features, and they still don't give certain options (e.g. specifying a lightweight body blank).  However, if you can find something already in stock it will be cheaper than a custom order - especially if it's already finished - and the body you see in the picture will be the one you receive, and the description will be accurate.

Their "in stock" section is nowhere near as well-stocked as it used to be, but if you want a Strat or a Tele there's still a pretty wide choice.

None of which is to say there aren't UK builders who can provide something just as good, and you may prefer to buy British...

Dodge said:

I bought a swamp ash bodied thinline Tele with a Goncalo Alves neck assembled by @Twinfan

I remember that guitar!

Stevepage

Philly_Q said:

I'm not trying to push you in either direction as regards "Warmoth vs UK builders", but Warmoth do offer an excellent service.

A custom order is relatively expensive, if you want any non-standard features, and they still don't give certain options (e.g. specifying a lightweight body blank).  However, if you can find something already in stock it will be cheaper than a custom order - especially if it's already finished - and the body you see in the picture will be the one you receive, and the description will be accurate.

Their "in stock" section is nowhere near as well-stocked as it used to be, but if you want a Strat or a Tele there's still a pretty wide choice.

None of which is to say there aren't UK builders who can provide something just as good, and you may prefer to buy British...

Dodge said:

I bought a swamp ash bodied thinline Tele with a Goncalo Alves neck assembled by @Twinfan

I remember that guitar!

This was unfortunately because they were so far behind with custom orders due to their lockdown back in March (Luckily my order was put in February)

Loobs

Go on lad

Gizmo

Rosted or Shou Sugi Ban?

Dodge

Philly_Q said:

Dodge said:

I bought a swamp ash bodied thinline Tele with a Goncalo Alves neck assembled by @Twinfan

I remember that guitar!

It's had a bit of a tweak since - now sporting some rather tasty Gold Foils from @Mojopickups

Here it is with the other two:

Jetfire

Is that a baritone strat? It's beautiful!!! 

Dodge

Jetfire said:

Is that a baritone strat? It's beautiful!!! 

No - regular scale length.

Here's the bass I put together: